Current Issue
In the summer of 2024, eighteen first-generation college students from Cal State LA traveled to Durham University in northeast England for a two-week international adventure. The study abroad program involved excursions to sites showcasing the rich landscape, heritage, and culture of Durham County with special attention to the local mining industry and labor-class communities. Students had the opportunity to live and study at Durham University, a campus that is home to an 11th century castle, sprawling botanical gardens, and a Restoration-era library with rare treasures from around the world. As part of an international writing community, students from both universities worked together to explore and write about their different first-gen experiences and identities. This study abroad program represents an especially important achievement for both the student participants and the partner institutions. Despite the overwhelming body of research documenting the personal, social, academic, and professional benefits of study abroad, first-gen students are significantly underrepresented in global education programs, with just eight percent of U.S. first-gen students completing a study abroad experience during the course of their college career. In boldly seizing this international travel opportunity, the students featured in this volume are changing the status quo, proving to themselves and other first-gen students around the world that transformative travel experiences are within their reach.
Acknowledgements
This study abroad program was made possible through the hard, collective work of faculty, staff, and students at Cal State LA and Durham University. Text & Type would like to extend a special thank you to our partners at Stephenson College, Rob Lynes and Katie Stobbs, for their organizing efforts, generosity as college hosts, and enthusiastic support of our first-gen student writers. Thank you to First Generation Scholars Network mentors Vikki Boliver, Michelle Addison, and Jonathan Drury, for their help in establishing this institutional partnership and their contributions to the remote writing workshops that served as pilots for this new on-the-ground study abroad program. Our deep appreciation to faculty and staff in the Cal State LA English Department: Linda Greenberg, Kathryn Perry, Rocelyn Islas, and Laura Espinoza, who gave their time, energy, and ideas to building and promoting the first English Department sponsored study abroad exchange for Cal State LA first-gen students. And, finally, we express deep gratitude to Cal State LA International Programs Director, Matt Walters, and his team for the tremendous labor involved in establishing a new study abroad program; their global experience, institutional knowledge, and tireless advocacy helped to make our students’ world travel dreams come true.
